If you’re serious about developing good habits, you need this worksheet.

It’s finally yours. Your very own home. You can paint the walls whatever you like. Heck, even knock out a wall! There’s no landlord to fight you.

But if you’re serious about developing good homeowner habits (so your home makes you richer, not poorer), you’ll use this worksheet the minute you close on your home — if not before. Easier to do now than suffer some head-slapping regrets later.

If that doesn’t do it for you, here’s a *cheater* version done in the form of 22 tips. You only need scroll:

is a writer and editor for national trade and consumer publications, including “USA Today.” She launched her career writing about real estate while living in a Baltimore graveyard, and now resides in her dream home in Rochester, N.Y.